National Rapporteurs

National Rapporteurs

The French government has appointed in May 2014 the CNCDH (Commission nationale consultative des droits de l’homme) as Independent National Rapporteur. The CNCDH is preparing its first evaluation report on the fight against human trafficking in France and on the implementation of the national action plan. The report will be published before the end of year 2015.

Government

Law 60(I)/2014 provides for an independent external evaluator, who is defined as the equivalent of the National Rapporteur. The Republic of Cyprus has not yet appointed the independent external evaluator, but is in the process of doing so. Until then, the competencies of the National Rapporteur or equivalent mechanism continue to be exercised by the Multidisciplinary Coordinating Group, that de facto fulfils the same function as an equivalent mechanism.

The Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2011 on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims determines in its article 19 that each member state has to establish a national rapporteur or an equivalent mechanism. The tasks of such mechanisms shall include the carrying out of assessments of trends in trafficking in human beings, the measuring of results of anti-trafficking actions, including the gathering of statistics in close cooperation with relevant civil society organisations active in this field, and reporting.

Republic of Croatia has a national coordinator for suppression of trafficking in human beings. The national coordinator also has a position of director of the Government Office for human rights and rights of national minorities.

In the new legal framework that transposed the EU Directive, a National Rapporteur (NR) was appointed by Ministerial decision in 2013 under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The NR is the Head of the Office to Monitor & Combat THB, that is staffed by Foreign Ministry Experts and coordinates an inclusive Network of competent State and NGO stakeholders that are collaborating towards the implementation of a large-scale Action Plan in Prevention, Prosecution, Protection and Partnership.

Ireland has only recently established many new structures for its anti-trafficking work and the creation of a National Rapporteur is not considered at this stage. However, it will be subject to review at the time of implementation of the new EU Directive on Human Trafficking. The Anti-Human Trafficking Unit, established in 2008, of the Department of Justice, Equality, and Law Reform has the overall responsibility for coordinating anti-trafficking policies in Ireland.